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Why We Are Afraid of Change

What we’re seeing in the political responses around the world is a reaction to change. People want to go back to the way it was. They’re afraid of change.

That’s helpful to know.

It’s hard to keep up with change

Technology is moving us faster and farther than we ever dreamed of. It’s hard to keep up. It takes determination to keep learning It takes flexibility to change. And although, to those of us who are older, it may seem like today’s world needs an entirely new skill set, our children and grandchildren are being brought up with technology and instant access to information and the answers they seek.

Change is a constant

Here is the core truth — change is constant. Life goes in cycles and that always means change. Even when you think the cycle has returned to a situation you’ve experienced before, you find that you’ve moved forward and are standing in new and unfamiliar surroundings. Change is ever-present. Change moves you forward.

You can’t hang on to the past

It will never be the way it was — and that’s a good thing. I remember when there was no TV. I remember riding in my grandfather’s Model T car. I remember blocks of ice delivered to my grandfather’s home to a real “ice box”. My mother could vote only twelve years before I was born. Very few women my age went to college. It wasn’t expected of us. It wasn’t the norm.

Yet today, 80 years later, women are heading large companies and entering politics and making a huge impact in our world.

All because the world keeps changing.

Our roles change

House-husbands began to happen when the man stayed home and the woman was the bread-winner. Both women and men took a closer look at marriage and the long-term commitment to raising children. People of diverse genders began to define themselves. Women began to stand up for themselves and men were uncomfortable as their roles and power changed.

That’s still the case. Old male power is still in place but it will disappear in a generation. And women will have to change how they see themselves and their role. We will have to change how we participate.

How do you adjust to change?

First you have to accept that change is constant. You can never, ever, go back to the way it was. You change every minute of your existence. So does the world around you. Going back is not an option. There’s only going forward. And that takes increased flexibility, and usually some effort.

Learn from others

If you want to learn how to use your computer or your cell phone, talk to a young person. If you want to understand environmental change, listen to those who study it and reach informed decisions based on your own inquiry. If you want to learn about your own city government, get involved. Become informed. Do your homework. Check the facts.

Know yourself

Look closely at where you stop yourself with your beliefs or opinions. Identify your strengths as well as your weaknesses. Where are you happiest? What do you need to learn in order to expand your path of service? What are your gifts? Your passion? The more self-aware you become, the more aligned are the choices you make. And there will be choices — many of them —often. Knowing yourself well is the foundation upon which you stand and from which you choose. Be flexible. Be accepting. Be willing to change.

Change takes consistent action on your part

It’s very easy to learn new things. The internet gives you instant answers. Videos can show you step by step how to do anything. You now have access to fascinating thinkers online and innovative research and diverse-minded people gathering for a common cause. It’s all there, spread out before you. Don’t hide your head in the sand. Don’t harbor any desire to go back because that’s simply not going to happen. We’re going steadily forward, like it or not.

How to keep up with change

Listen. Listen to what others are saying.

Look. Look at what others are accomplishing.

Absorb and choose. Immerse yourself in possibility, choose ideas and actions that are aligned with your passion and your gifts and take the steps that will help you move forward.

Trust where you are led

When you focus on listening to your inner voice, when you use your emotions and your feelings to determine what calls to you at this moment in time, and when you simply let it unfold, it will find you and call to you clearly.

A recent shift in my own direction took a while to clarify itself. First there was just a wisp of a thought. Then waiting. Then a bit of an idea. I explored how I felt about it. More waiting. Then came a knowing about the general direction. Again waiting. And finally, like a geyser, the specifics and action steps began to flow out and fill my life. I went to work.

Don’t push your calling. Let it emerge. Don’t push change but do welcome it and enjoy the adventure.